Hi Steve,
The one that occurred with the carbon disintegrating happened very
suddenly and rapidly got worse. It hadn't been in the car that long,
so I thought it was the clutch that had failed as it became very hard
to shift (as you described). Once it starts to fail, it doesn't take
long to completely come apart. As far as the failed pivot. That would
take a long time to develop, but would fail suddenly as well.
They do make a roller bearing, but I've heard mixed results with how
well they work and I don't have personal experience with one.
The carbon bearing are usually fine, but then again, I don't have a
lot of confidence in a lot of the reproduction stuff these days. I
don't know about the ones supplied separately, but I think the Borg &
Beck kits are still made in the UK. I have discovered recently that
the friction material on the discs is about 10% narrower than
original, so it a not a good idea to use a new disc with an old
pressure plate. I haven't been able to confirm it, but I suspect that
the new pressure plates have a different spring rate.
Let me know what you discover about the problem.
Gerard
http://gerardsgarage.com/
On Jun 18, 2011, at 4:55 AM, Steven Guterman wrote:
> Gerard,
>
> How quickly can a throwout bearing fail? When I think back, When i
> got a squealing sound it was with the clutch pedal depressed, so
> this could be the problem. I think I read on this list about real
> throwout bearings (versus carbon) for the midget. Are they available?
>
> Thanks
>
> Steve
>
> On Fri, Jun 17, 2011 at 11:33 PM, Gerard
> <pixelsmith at gerardsgarage.com> wrote:
> Steve,
>
> In my experience this can occur from a failing throw out bearing. I
> have seen this occur at least twice. Once it was the complete
> disintegration of the carbon material, the other was one side of the
> pivot failing, causing it to exert uneven pressure against the
> pressure plate, making it difficult to get full release.
>
> It could be any of the aforementioned problems Kevin lists, but the
> suddenness of it makes me think that the TO bearing is something to
> examine. If you pull the plug (if there is one) in the opposite clutch
> fork hole, you should be able to get a peek in there and see if
> anything looks off. A lot of free movement with the push rod removed
> (distance fully retracted vs up against the mating surface) will give
> you an idea as well.
>
> Gerard
> http://gerardsgarage.com/
>
> On Jun 17, 2011, at 6:31 PM, spridgets-request at autox.team.net wrote:
>
> > Message: 5
> > Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:44:28 -0400
> > From: Steven Guterman <an5.sprite at gmail.com>
> > To: Kevin Valentine <kevinv1275 at gmail.com>
> > Cc: Spridgets <spridgets at autox.team.net>
> > Subject: Re: [Spridgets] Likely Pilot Bushing problem + cam question
> > Message-ID: <BANLkTin5O+67S__Rk+B-tHA+8-xFfzN3qw at mail.gmail.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> >
> > Kevin,
> >
> > No clutch burning smell or vibration. Currently no squealing sound,
> > but
> > every now and then I did get a squealing sound when I depressed the
> > clutch
> > and put it in gear.
> >
> > The fork had no play at the hinge joint when it was assembled. Any
> > idea how
> > much movement I should getting at the slave? When my wife was
> > pushing the
> > clutch pedal the clutch rod looked like it moved immediately.
> >
> > Steve
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